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Hopping onto the ale trail

On pub and brewery crawls, you'll travel by trolley, bus, bike or boat.

These days, it seems as if all the world wants to go on a pub crawl. 

This year, even the Chicago Architecture Foundation is hopping onto the beer bandwagon, offering new walking tours of neighborhood pubs in Lakeview,  River North and Andersonville.

Beer and history go hand in hand in the Windy City, where the Chicago History Museum keeps coming up with new theme crawls. Trolleys take history tourists on tours of British pubs as well as Chicago's "greatest dives'' and Prohibition-era  Chicago.

Watch for bicycle and bus crawls during Milwaukee Beer Week, April 13-20, Madison Craft Beer Week, May 3-12, and Chicago Craft Beer Week, May 16-26.

In St. Paul, tickets for the Minnesota History Center's popular History Pub Crawls go on sale May 1.

These trolley tours go out on Wednesday evenings in summer, covering the downtown in June, the West End in July and Summit Hill in August. Tickets are $25 and don't include drinks.

The Chicago History Museum's History Pub Crawls cost $35 and book up fast. 

The Chicago Architecture Foundation's new 2½-hour walking tours cost $15, and chances are they'll also book up fast.

In 2013, the Andersonville crawl is April 7, May 6, June 11, July 14, Aug. 6, Sept. 8, Oct. 20, Nov. 10 and Dec. 15.

The Lakeview crawl is April 30, May 22, June 2, July 10, Aug. 27, Sept. 25 and Oct. 3.

The River North crawl is May 14, June 24, Aug. 14, Sept. 16 and Oct. 1.

Chicago also offers Chicago Beer Experience Beer Tours. These three-hour walking tours combine Chicago history with beer tastings at bars. There are two tours, Lincoln Park & Lakeview and Bucktown & Wicker Park, $59.90.

In Milwaukee, Riverwalk pontoon boats on the Milwaukee River offer weekend tours starting May 18. The Saturday pub crawl stops at Molly McCool's, the Milwaukee Ale House and Rock Bottom Brewery, $29.

The Sunday brewery tour starts May 19 and stops at Lakefront Brewery, the Milwaukee Ale House and Rock Bottom Brewery, $29. Bring your ID!

For more about Milwaukee brewery tours, see Mad about brew.

And on June 15, the wacky Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee celebrates its 29th annual  "bike crawl of the underbelly of Milwaukee.'' The 25-mile bike ride starts at Best Place, the old Pabst Brewery hospitality room, and includes stops at Lakefront Brewery and Wolski's Tavern.

Costumes are encouraged, and prizes include Amazing Healing Power of Beer swag. It's a benefit for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.

From Madison, Hop Head Beer Tour Co. offers bus tours. It visits Lake Louie, Furthermore and Tyranena on its Backroads Brewery Bus Tour, and Central Waters, O'so and Red Eye on its Central Wisconsin Brewery Bus Tour.

For a list of beer festivals, see Best brew fests.

Last updated on April 12, 2013